Wow, what an amazing report this quarter! I was really shocked to see the extent of the improvement in all of our middle to luxury price ranges and the strength of our sales despite such low inventory. If you compare this chart to the second chart below for the same quarter in 2017 you will see the impressive evolution of our luxury and waterfront housing markets in the past year.

If you are a home buyer or seller in the Lake Norman area it really only matters what is happening in YOUR price-range. Yes, it is important to know about the global economy, the national economy and the Charlotte area economy and real estate market but real estate is hyper-local here so it is most meaningful for you to learn about the Lake Norman real estate market and within that, your specific niche. For instance, if you are looking to buy or sell in the $700,000 price range, you are going to have an entirely different experience than someone in the $800,000’s. This is the reason why I create a price-range analysis every quarter for my readers and clients:

Lake Norman’s 2nd Quarter 2018 Home Sales By Price Range

*Compiled from the Carolina Multiple Listing Service’s data, this chart enables you to focus on your specific price range(s) rather than use the broad-brush approach thus allowing you to size up your competition and better position yourself.

How to read this report:

First choose a price range.

The next column provides the actual number of listings sold in this price range in the 2nd quarter of 2018

This is followed by the percentage this price range represents of the total number of listings sold in all of Lake Norman

Next is the number of active listings in this price range today

This is followed by the percentage this price range represents of the total number of active listings

Finally, the last column represent the absorption rate or the number of months of supply for each price range based upon the number of listings divided by the number of sales. (A balanced housing market is 6 months so you can use this to gauge your price range).

Just for fun, let’s compare this to the 2nd Quarter 2017 Price Range Chart:

Our current inventory of 811 single family homes is 14.4% less than last year’s 947 while our number of homes sold is 14% greater than the 2nd quarter of 2017 which is impressive if you keep in mind that 2017 was a record breaking year for Lake Norman’s home sales.

Sure, I can still say that our strongest price ranges were those up to $399,000 but the reality is that all price ranges up to $900,000 were in a seller’s market with the exception of the $700,000’s. Look at their months of supply! (Last column on the right). From a low of only 1.33 months to a high of 5.28 months clearly we have had a high number of sales in our lower AND trade-up price ranges despite very low inventories.

What is really striking is that the only other price range to fall into a strong buyer’s market is the highest segment of our market which is estates over $3 million. And, a another number with noting is our $2 million price range which had 14 sales putting it in a balanced market for the first time since I have been doing these reports.

The most improved price ranges when compared to 2017 were the $800,000’s, $1,500,000 – $1,999,999’s and the $2,000,000. This is truly the first report since our recession that indicates a recovery in our higher-end and luxury housing markets. Of course, this means waterfront homes too.

Our weakest price range when looking at all of their numbers were the $700,000’s and the $3,000,000+. (In the over $3 million we had one sale instead of 2 so not a significant number in context).

If you look just at our months of supply, there is very little difference between the $900,000’s up to $2,999,999.

To put this in historical perspective, in the 1st quarter of 2009 we had only 111 sales but 1546 active listings and a whopping 46.4 months of supply for all of Lake Norman!

Keep in mind that we are looking at months that are traditionally part of the strongest segment of our Lake Norman home sales which usually lasts through July or August.

As a buyer, the chart above will show you where you might face the stiffest competition and at what price ranges you might see opportunities. For example, if you fall in the $850,000 – $950,000 price range you might want to look for opportunities in the 900,000’s where there were only about half the number of sales with about the same number of homes for sale. The higher the months of supply in a price range the more it favors the buyer. There is only a 4.4 months supply of homes for sale in the $800,000’s price range while there is an 8.24 months supply of active listings in the $900,000’s.

As a seller, you can look at the Lake Norman real estate market’s activity by price range and if you are right on the cusp of, for example, a $900,000 listing price, it would clearly be prudent to price your home slightly under $900,000 where there are about the same number of homes for sale but about twice as many sales/buyers.

I am so used to this chart that it is easy for me to understand but if you have ANY questions about this report and your specific price range or the overall Lake Norman real estate market by all means call me or send me a quick email: diane@dianeaurit.com. Please note that in all of the price range charts I am actually using data from the 15th of the month so these numbers won’t match perfectly with the monthly or annual sales numbers I provide.